Born in Albany, Georgia, the Reverend Doctor Gloria Ward Wright was one of eight children born to Mary and William H. Ward, Sr. She grew up in the segregated South where she couldn't drink from "white" water fountains or use public facilities designated "for whites only."

The civil rights movement of the 1960s awakened Gloria's youthful ardor to fight segregation. As a courageous teenager, she marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Charles Sherrod, and others in the Albany Movement's nonviolent demonstrations for civil rights. She was arrested and jailed four times. Dr. Wright has written about her experiences to enlighten today's youth who know little about the civil rights movement and how they benefit by it today.

An educator, pastor, motivational speaker, wife, and mother, Dr. Wright is a crusader for world peace and human rights for all. She has traveled extensively, with pilgrimages to the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Mexico, Canada, and Caribbean nations.

Dr. Wright received a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology with a minor in psychology from Albany State College. She pursued studies on the Masters level in educational psychology at Georgia State University and further studies toward the Master of Divinity at the Interdenominational Theological Seminary.

In 1997 she enrolled in Covington Theological Seminary to continue her studies in ministry. She graduated with the Master of Ministry degree in pastoral studies in 1998 and continued to pursue education and training in ministry. She graduated cum laude with a Doctor of Ministry degree in pastoral studies in 2001.

Dr. Wright has had extensive training and experience in teaching, social work, psychological testing, and law enforcement for juvenile offenders. She is a member of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, the South Atlantic Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the Concerned Black Clergy, of which she is a board member. She is the former pastor of Simmons Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Her husband, Daniel W. Wright, Jr., is past president of the Georgia Association of Educators. Their son, Byron Ward Wright, graduated from the University of West Georgia as a marketing major in 2005. The Wrights reside in Atlanta.